Jewel of the Past and Present: Revised
by digisammiegirl
Summary: Naruto is hiding from his fellow ninja a secret of old. A snake joins a spider, and a fox must find the dog and his friends. Inuyasha crossover. Revised from original. Original to be deleted.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Decided to try and rework this. I love my idea and I want to see it completed, even if I don't know how it will end. More AN at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone from Naruto or Inuyasha. Anything that pertains to them belongs to their respective creators.

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The Sealing

oOoOo

Torch light bathed the cavern in a soft glow, guiding a group through its twisting paths. The light footsteps of the party echoed sharply in the empty vastness, only disrupted by the occasional dripping of water off of stalactites into a nearby underground pond.

One of the party paused to survey the area in front of a wooden shrine on the far side of the pond, more torches giving it a foreboding air. His hair swung back and forth as he looked from side to side, his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, ready to draw at a moments notice. His ears were flat on his head as he growled, "Are you sure this is a secure place, monk?" At a slight jingle, the swordsman turned to one of his companions.

A man in purple robes looked affronted before replying, "Honestly. After all of these years, couldn't you put your faith in me?" he asked with a dramatic pout on his face, stamping the ground with his staff in mock irritation, the rings from it jingling as though to emphasize his point.

Disturbed at the act, the swordsman consented and turned away. The youngest of the party laughed at the brotherly act before commenting, "Well I for one think this is a great hiding place for it. It's so deep in the cavern, there's no way any human would be able to find it. There's also all of the sutras and barriers you've set up," he said addressing the one in purple, "not to mention all of the trouble the villagers went to towards building the shrine. Besides," he finished looking downcast, "who will remember the Shikon no Tama once the demons are all gone?"

"He's right, you know," commented the last of the party as he shook out his legs. "Once we're gone, the humans will slowly start to see the jewel as legend as they did before. If anything, it will become another bed time story to scare little kids," he finished weakly as he heard his sword-wielding companion growl again.

"It's not…it's not the jewel that concerns me," he tempered off as he turned toward his youngest companion, worry and trepidation clearly showing in his eyes despite the dim lighting.

The youngest smiled softly, his hands behind his back, both eyes on his father figure while his mind thought of his late mother as he said solemly, "She died to protect the jewel. Her memory is connected with the jewel. As the jewel is forgotten, so will she be forgotten. The time of demons is coming to an end. I think this a fitting way to spend the rest of my eternity by protecting her memory. Wouldn't you agree," he asked lightly to the rest of his makeshift family.

The swordsman smiled as he approached his son, now able to look him eye to eye without crouching. "You sure have grown from that yelping pup you once were. When did you do that," he asked lightly as he ruffled the young one's red hair, messing it from its tie.

The redhead smirked and answered, "When you were busy with your ramen."

"Keh."

Suddenly, the last of their party paused from stretching his legs, causing the others to turn towards him. "They're coming this way. My pack won't be able to hold them off for long. We still have to get to our destinations as well," he declared as he addressed the swordsman and monk.

"In that case," the redhead exclaimed as he turned towards the one in purple robes, "what do you need me to do?"

The monk took a long look at the young man, his nephew in all but blood, before drawing him into a hug. Startled, the redhead returned it. Parting, the monk walked into the shrine, the redhead following. Pausing at the door, the redhead looked back over his shoulder towards his father figure and second uncle. Giving a smile and a little wave, he entered the shrine.

Several minutes pass before the monk emerges from the shrine and silently heads towards the exit, his companions following after a shortly, the glow of the torches catching small, downward trails of moisture on each of their faces as they went.

Back at the shrine, candles are lit showing a central pedestal on a raised dais in the far back. Carved from wood, soft velvet can be seen adorning the top. In the center, not exactly resting on the velvet, yet not hovering, lay a small, pink jewel. The light of the candles flickers within the jewel, all the while as a figure stands guard over it. Behind the pedestal, a statue portraying a regal kitsune in human form stands guard, its hands seeming to cup the air around the jewel as though to shield it.. A breeze blows through from an unknown source, snuffing out the torch and candle light. In the vast darkness, the eyes of the statue glow red, seemingly scanning the area, daring trespassers to steal its treasure, while the jewel glows an unearthly pink. Slowly, the light fades until darkness weighs supreme.

oOoOo

Time is of no matter in places hidden away from the world. Dust and cobwebs are all that is there to fill in the long hours. The shrine, so saturated with mites and spiders, shows its uninvited guest that indeed many years have come and gone over this place hidden away from the rest of the world.

The trespasser raises his torch to sear away the cobwebs, eyes scanning the interior of the shrine to find his prize. With a slither, a snake goes in before him, making its way towards the central pedestal. Coiling up the column, the snake reaches the top. Spying the round object its master wishes, it unhinges its jaws and springs to take the object in one gulp.

Said master sighs as he witnesses his pet turned to ash, inches from its goal. Grumbling, he sets his torch into a holder and pulls out a scroll, gazing at the rest of the interior as he did, his eyes resting on the statue of the demon before returning to his task. Reading it, he does not notice the dull, red eyes set upon his form. "Hah! 'Beware of the guardian of the jewel.' Such things do not exist. But the power, oh yes, I can feel the power coming from this jewel. This 'Shikon no Tama'. And once I crack this last barrier, this power source shall be mine and with it, there will be nothing stopping me from taking control of the village!" Finishing his self-encouraging, the uninvited one began moving his hands, the scroll resting on the ground in front of him.

Shadows of kanji script, their meaning lost to time except to those who still studied the old forms, circled around the pedestal before parting with the sound of breaking glass. Smirking, the trespasser slowly guided his hand, confident in his success, to pick up his prize. Not having his hand burned, he swiftly hefts it from its perch. The thief paused to relish in the aura of power emitting into his body before turning, never once seeing the pair of red eyes that came alight before him.

The trespasser stood from his crouch and turned to leave only to stop in his tracks. There, at the entrance stood a figure in a red kimono. The light of the torch glistened off the points of the nails on the figure's hands, yet such light paled in comparison to that which emanated from its slit eyes. Stunned, the thief took a step back, only to trip over the raised dais. Turning to catch him self, expecting the statue from before to be there to grab onto, the thief was further startled when his hands met air as he stumbled to his knees, the statue of the jewel's guardian no where to be seen.

Drawing a kuni from his pouch, the uninvited one reared and turned to face the figure. He froze when there was no figure to be seen. Remaining tense, he surveyed the shrine again. After a few moments, the trespasser relaxed, mentally telling him self off for being so jumpy only to freeze again when a hand gripped his shoulder from behind, the nails digging in enough to slice into the fabric of his clothes. A breathy voice whispered in his ear, "Why? Why do you wake me? Why do you seek what is not yours? Why do you seek your own destruction?"

The thief jerked to stab his kuni into the hand of the figure, only to cry in alarm as it dug into his own shoulder. Panicking, he dashed for the entrance, only to duck under the figure in panic as it reappeared in the door of the shrine.

Once out into the vast cavern, the man's confidence returned until an earth shattering cry was heard from behind. Not daring to look behind him, he rushed back the way he marked towards the entrance.

At the shrine, the figure in the red kimono hung to the door frame. Years of sleep clouded his mind, his thought process only on the fact that the jewel, his treasure, had been taken. He had to retrieve the jewel. He couldn't let his mother's memory be taken from him. Like the wind, he raced to the cavern's entrance, not needing his eyes to guide him as his memory of the winding tunnels served him well. In almost no time, he stood at the entrance of the cavern, the light causing his eyes to sting from not seeing the sun in a very long while. Confused when he did not sense the wretched thief, he sniffed the air for the trespassor's blood. His clouded mind became panicked as he realized that his prey had gone further than he had thought he had. With a howl, the figure's face elongated, his kimono turned to fur, and his ears stretched to the top of his head. Behind him, nine red tails swayed in the breeze. Eyes still stinging from the light of the sun, the kitsune used his nose to follow his prey. After tripping and falling over logs and roots, the kitsune began to grow. Satisfied that he could follow his thief unhindered, he continued following the sent of his prey's blood. Unbeknownst to him, the thief was making his way towards his village.

oOoOo

AN: I hope that this version is a bit better than the last one. I really want to start concentrating on it. I've been reading over what chapters I have so far, and it is not going fast enough in the direction I want it to. As it stands, similarities between this fic and the original will start and end with this chapter for the most part. I hope that this time around I can make more of an impression on you readers.

Having said that, please review and tell me what you think. If you have read the original chapter to this one, please give me your thoughts and comments on the comparison of the two.

Also as a side note, I'm thinking about deleting the original fic once this one catches up in chapters. Let me know if you want me to keep it up or take it down.


	2. Chapter 2

And thus another chapter in my little pet project starts. I did my best on this one, but I don't think it's all that great. It needs some fine polish, but it will do. Personally, I think that by jumping to the Chuunin exams, where everything starts, is exactly what I should have done in the first place.

I remember there being some dispute about Naruto's age. I made him older for a reason. Someone said that he entered the academy early. In this story, he entered with the rest of his age group. As I see it, if he had entered early, it would have made the villagers uneasy which is something the higher-ups would not allow.

This chapter is also shorter than what I usually write. I'm going to be trying to do shorter chapters seeing as how I'm in school at the moment and all. Maybe I'll get more done over Spring Break.

In any case, I hope that you enjoy the chapter and please leave a review when you're done. The previous one had over 200 hits, but only 4 reviews.

Speaking of, thank you to those few who did leave a review. Oh, peppymint, you have such great ideas!

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It Starts

oOoOo

Disbelief coursed through his mind. How could things have gotten so messed up? First his mother's jewel, and now another of their own had been awakened, undergone some sort of personality change, and sealed into another unfortunate boy. He didn't want to say it, especially without having any actual wood to knock on, but things couldn't be worse at the moment. He didn't want his container to kill his fellow jinchuriki, let alone the tanuki within him.

If only the blasted monk were here.

"What am I supposed to do?" a desperate and tired voice sounded throughout the cavern he was standing in. The water around his feet seemed to ripple as the voice bounced against the walls and between the bars of his cage.

"His abilities lay with illusions and deception first and foremost, sand second, so stay on your toes," he answered with half a mind as he continued to think.

"I know that already," the voice answered, laced with aggravation. "I don't want to kill Garra or the Ichibi. What was his name again?"

"Hachimon, though we usually call him Hachi. Tell me what Garra told you about his seal again."

"He said that he can not sleep or else Hachi takes…over," the voice wavered before a rumble could be heard from deep within the cavern.

"Are you alright?" he asked urgently.

"Ya, no need to get your tails in a knot. This guy packs a punch! You know I can't multitask very well. Why is he called the Ichibi anyway when his name is Hachi?"

"This isn't the time, Naruto!"

"I know, I know! So, any ideas?"

"Have you tried waking the kid up?"

"Thought of it, but I can't get in close enough. Unless…"

The devious tone made him pause, wondering what his container had in mind. "Just don't get your fool ass killed," he finally muttered.

"Don't worry, Kyuubi. You know me."

"That's exactly why I'm worried. And don't call me that. It's Shippo, you little runt!"

The battle raging outside of the cavern was over in a matter of minutes, much to Shippo's annoyance. Once again, he had been forced into the role of spectator while his container had to deal with yet another mess the fools of his village left him to clean up. Though, this ordeal made him wonder about his fellow demon. How had Hachi been sealed into the Sand boy? And what was up with the personality makeover? He should be asleep, sealed away and in a location further away from the Sand Village if Naruto's geography maps indicated correctly. Of course, the topography of the lands had changed from his time three hundred years ago. However, these were things to ponder at a later time. There was no use thinking these kinds of things over when you couldn't even investigate it without causing suspicion. He had to keep his container alive after all.

Yes, he had to keep the kit alive, just as he had the past thirteen years. He couldn't remember too many details about the day he was sealed into the brat, but what he could was the stench of snake, a frog, a blond man, and the shinigami itself. Shippo had been in a daze when he had left the shrine. So set on his pursuit of the thief of his mother's jewel, was he, that he didn't notice when his prey led him to a village.

The attacks of the village's shinobi, the modern-day ninja as he later learned, had felt like mosquito bites, and, just like the bugs, Shippo had swatted them, not knowing they were human. He remembered his own confusion of coming face to face with a toad, a toad of all things, followed by shock as the blond man standing on the toad's head started chanting. His confusion soon turned to horror at the sight of the shinigami. Did the human have a death wish? Why was he summoning it? What power this human must have to be able to summon such a creature.

Shippo's horror doubled once he learned why the specter had been summoned. What had he done? He prided himself with having as little human blood on his claws as possible, and what blood was his to bear was never spilled in cold blood. His mother would be so ashamed. And his father…what would his father say when he found out? He deserved the fate the death god had been summoned to deal him, but he still had to protect the jewel. It was only by good fortune was he able to convince the specter to guard the jewel in his steed. Shippo could only smile as he was suddenly sealed into, at a glance, a wailing baby boy, knowing that the blond man's sacrifice would not be in vain.

It had been a long thirteen years since then. Apparently, humans, despite their advances, had not changed in their core. The people of the village went out of their way to make young Naruto's life as difficult as possible on a day to day basis. How the young kit survived the first five years of his life still remained a mystery. Those assigned to look after the orphaned baby frequently neglected and often beat the young one. He thanked what ever god was watching for those few Anbu and the village leader, the Hokage, who seemed to care about what happened to their village's jinchuriki.

Things got better once the kit was able to walk. Or worse depending on who you asked. Once Naruto's caretakers noticed that the toddler could stand on his own two feet, they frequently sent him out of the small apartment, only for the unsuspecting child to walk right into the unforgiving hands of the villagers and more vindictive shinobi. It was during one such outing that left Naruto unconscious and bleeding in the back of an alley when Shippo and the jinchuriki met for the first time. As injured and isolated as Naruto was, Shippo did not think the child would survive the night, let alone the next hour. Desperately, the demon fox pulled the child's subconscious into his chamber where he began to heal him as best as the seal placed on him would allow. From there, it was history.

Once the connection between demon and jinchuriki had been made, Shippo took the orphaned toddler under his tutelage, quickly teaching him how to run and hide. From there, Naruto learned the cruder arts of survival, and as he matured, so did his teachings. From reading and writing to hunting and foraging, Naruto learned and thrived.

It was from Shippo's teachings that Naruto lived long enough to enter the ninja academy at the age of six. The young boy's trials became tougher as the academy instructors sabotaged the jinchuriki's progress at every turn. Erasing answers on tests or asking him questions not of his age range were common. It came as no surprise to neither demon nor jinchuriki that there was no help to be found on the playground either as Naruto's classmates began emulating their parents.

Things changed again once Naruto hit ten. His instructor for the year went by the name Umino Iruka who seemed to take a liking to the young orphan. Unfortunately for Iruka, it took more than kind words for the fox boy to trust strangers, let alone an adult of the village. In the end, however, despite Shippo's warnings, Naruto befriended the enthusiastic instructor to a degree. If the demon did not like the man, then the jinchuriki would not trust him completely. It wasn't until the night of Naruto's third failed attempt for graduation did Iruka gain Shippo's respect.

At previous graduations, the wary fox boy deliberately failed on purpose. Knowing why the villagers hated him made him more conscious of what exactly was going on hidden under the happy surface the village portrayed. If Naruto had graduated on time, the village would have begun to fear that he was growing in power. By deliberately holding himself back, it gave the village a false sense of security while the boy did not receive escalated violence in return. That changed dramatically once the third graduation came around.

Despite his distrustfulness towards the village, Naruto did not want to see it go to ruin. When Iruka's teaching assistant, Mizuki, tried to trick Naruto into stealing a forbidden scroll, the jinchuriki could do nothing else but go along with the trick and play the fool. The whole night did not go completely to ruin, according to Shippo. His container obtained a useful jutsu, a friend had been secured, and a threat nullified. The only down side was that Naruto was now a Gennin.

Which leads the pair to today's situation. If Shippo could ever get his claws on that Hatake guy, he would teach him to allow brats to not participate in competitions they were not ready for. His container, sure, but not little kids like that stuck up Uchiha or that fangirl Haruno. It was thanks to such teammates and instructor which had put the kit into their current situation! Then again, Shippo would not have learned of Hachi's fate if not for fighting the Sand boy.

He was still going to murder the one-eyed freak when he got the chance.

"Will they be alright?" Naruto's voice echoed in the cavern. Shippo gave a sigh.

"Ya. The brat and the raccoon-dog will be just fine. Hachi is made of stronger stuff than one might think. You're good, Kit, but not that good. We should head back into the village. Some more of those Sand ninja may still be lurking about."

"What about Garra?"

"Let his siblings handle him," the demon answered flippantly as two figures dropped from the trees above Naruto's head.

Leaning on the trunk of a tree, the jinchuriki watched as the two elder Sand siblings checked over their younger brother. Naruto nodded to himself. Garra would be just fine. "Hey," he called out. "Take care of Garra for me. Tell him that when he wakes up, we'll have a rematch. No demons involved," he added as he stood from his slumped position, ready to head back to the village.

"Ya, sure," the guy in makeup muttered hoarsely, surprise clearly heard.

"Why would you allow us to go so easily?" the girl of the trio asked in desperate disbelief. "We just ransacked your village, and yet you're willing to let us go unheeded?" The blond container shrugged.

"The village can take care of itself. As for letting you guys go, I like Garra. The two of us have more in common than one can see at first glance. As for you two, Garra needs you. If we're going to fight again, the raccoon should have what he needs, right?" he asked rhetorically with a large grin.

A small chuckle made its way from the girl of the strange group which soon turned into a laugh as she clutched onto her baby brother. A grin broke its way out of the middle sibling in response as Naruto's own grin widened. This was great. Everything was going to turn out alright.

At least, that is what the jinchuriki and demon fox thought.

A large wave of energy washed over the group, causing all to stop, smiles wiped from their faces, bodies stiffening in shock. "W-wh-what is that?" the girl asked timidly, her voice quaking as she tightened her grip on the unconscious raccoon boy.

Whirling around, the resident jinchuriki stared in the general direction of where the wave had come from. "It can't be," the demon fox muttered in his head. "Someone is…summoning the…shinigami…" Naruto's eyes widened in fear.

"But that was…if that's true then…but it was coming from the village." Realization gripped him, sending ice slicing into his veins. "Jijii-san!"

oOoOo


End file.
